Interactive visualization serves to support understanding by using external means, which as a subset of information visualization, uses “computer supported, interactive, visual representations of abstract data to amplify cognition” (Ferster 2012, 5, 4). The use of interactive visualization is extremely valuable when it comes to organizing large amounts of data and has been used successfully to support historical projects to “communicate directly with the view to support inquiry in a visual, compelling, and interactive manner” (Ferster 2012, 5-6).
An excellent example of historical visualization can be seen in Dr. Scot French’s “Notes from Virginia” project which combined many visual and interactive elements to examine the letters of Thomas Jefferson and William Short (Ferster 2012, 7).
There are three primary models of interactive visualizations; theoretical, descriptive, and prescriptive. Theoretical models focus on the efficacy of visualizations (Ferster 2012, 26). Cognitive Load Theory is one such model that seeks to examine the effect of short- and long-term memory in understanding (Ferster 2012, 29). This theory is of particular interest to me, as someone with ADHD that impacts working memory, because I have found interactive visualizations incredibly useful in the absorption of information in truly meaningful ways that were not available to me when I was a child. Another theoretical model that stood out to me was mental models since this is again an area where I have found my own neurodivergent brain to have certain deficiencies. In my case, I lack any mental imagery (a condition known as aphantasia), and while I'm far from unimaginative, I think in a much more conceptual and data driven way that sometimes hinders my understanding. Descriptive models “provide an imagistic representation of the world in which visual characteristics are blended with conceptual and physical features extracted from perception” (Ferster 2012, 32). Finally, prescriptive models are meant to provide guidance in creative effective visualizations. I find it very encouraging to read that these models take the struggles of someone like me into account when creating interactive visualizations.
In Dr. French's Digital Tools for Historians we will be focusing on the prescriptive ASSERT model outlined by Bill Ferster to begin our visualization project on the history of the Hungerford School in Eatonville, Florida. The steps we will be taking this week using the ASSERT model are Ask a question and Search for evidence.
If you are unfamiliar with Eatonville or the Hungerford School property, this article provides a brief background. We hope that in our utilization of a visualization project, we can recover the history of the Hungerford School site and present our findings in a meaningful way that can assist the Eatonville community in preserving their history and commemorating the past in ways that will support the continuation of Eatonville as a historically Black town with roots that tie to notable names, like Zora Neale Hurston and Booker T. Washington. The questions that I am drawn to from my preliminary look at the current sources are what ultimately led to the transfer of the Hungerford School property to OCPS? Who was involved in that final transfer? And where did Hungerford, as a Tuskegee Institute satellite school, fit into the Tuskegee universe? I am also interested in pursuing additional sources by asking who the Hungerford School board of trustees were. I believe that some of these questions could provide new avenues for research that could be be explored in our visualizations. The technique of using interactive visualization is not new to Dr. Scot French, who has successfully recovered other African American cultural and historical landscapes in the past. Two of these projects involving segregated schools in Virginia provided unique context to their communities, linking the physical spaces of the schools with important figures and moments in Black history. In both cases, the importance of the sites was effectively communicated with the wider community who were successfully motivated to preserve the sites. In the case of Booker T. Washington Elementary, there are several parallels to Hungerford that are immediately apparent including the connection to Booker T. Washington and the 1952 transfer of a property to a county school board by a board of trustees for the purpose of building a segregated school (French, Barton, and Flora 2007, ix). In the case of Jefferson High School, a community based history is presented to highlight the grassroots fight for the school (French 2013). The key element present in both of these projects is the support they received from the public to save and recover the school sites.
While we unfortunately no longer have the ability to save the physical site of the Hungerford School, we can take note of the methods with which these projects were able to successfully foster community involvement since that will be a vital part of the Hungerford project's potential success. As we explore the wealth of sources that have already been gathered on the Hungerford School, we will keep these examples in mind as we ask new questions and search for more evidence to present in the effort of preserving a unique and important site for our own community.
Bibliography
Ferster, Bill. Interactive Visualization: Insight Through Inquiry. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012.
French, Scot. "A Dream of the Future: African American Civic Activism and the Making of Jefferson High School," in Pride Overcomes Prejudice: A History of Charlottesville's African American School. Edited by Andrea Douglas, 30-71. Charlottesville: JSAAHC, 2013.
French, Scot, Craig Barton, and Peter Flora. Booker T. Washington and Segregated Education in Virginia - An Historic Resource Study. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Interior, 2007. National Parks Service History eLibrary, accessed February 20, 2023, http://npshistory.com/publications/bowa/hrs.pdf
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